The Archetype of the Irresponsible Parent in the Young Adult Novel of the 21st Century

Abstract

The article considers archetype as a constant primary image that reflects the value system of humanity and, due to its universality, undergoes changes very reluctantly and very slowly, thus reflecting only the most significant tendencies taking place not only in literature but also in culture as a whole, and in the mentality. Such significant changes in the 20th and 21st centuries include the reassessment and redistribution of the parent-child roles when the child reaches adolescence, which is reflected in realistic young adult fiction. The article shows that the binary Mother / Stepmother archetype, built on the dichotomy of ‘loving – ‘unloving’, is losing relevance and gives way to the Parent archetype with ambivalent semantics, whose structure combines positive and negative traits, namely ‘loving, but irresponsible’. The archetype can be found in the characters of Fiona in N. Hornby’s About a Boy, Penny, Carry, and Bess in E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Lacy and Alex in J. Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, etc. Their images of loving mums incapable of caring for their children, wandering from one young adult novel to another, are identical to the images of irresponsible fathers, which allows us to combine these two figures in the Parent archetype. The article reflects upon the reasons for the catastrophe in young adult novels showing how ‘normal’ parents demonstrate lack of attention to their children for reasons such as immaturity, selfishness, lack of mutual understanding, taking the role of a parent for the role of a friend, and a banal lack of time. The article points out the ambiguity inherent in the semantics of the motif of guilt and blame characteristic of contemporary literature in general. The Irresponsible Parent archetype becomes so familiar that in his Incredibly Close & Extremely Loud J. Foer breaks the readers’ expectations when Oscar’s mother turns from careless and inattentive into loving, responsible, and ready to rely on her motherly intuition in order to save Oscar’s physical and psychological health. The article raises the question of the semantics of the motifs of the parents’ love and responsibility to their child in contemporary literature, and outlines the axiological field of the problem young adult novels.